MAKE YOUR OWN SEED BOMBS

Seed bombs have become very popular recently. They're a fun way to try your hand at gardening without a lot of prep work. Making them is a fun activity that you can do to welcome in spring and is great to do with kids.

These seed balls are made with recycled and biodegradable paper and wildflower seeds. We receive a lot of kraft paper in shipments from our suppliers, and we needed a creative way to reuse it. The paper around them protects them from being eaten by birds and insects while the seeds germinate. Throw them in a space that you think needs some greenery, or in your own yard to start a small garden.

Step One: Gather Supplies and Tools

To make seed bombs, you'll need to first gather your supplies and tools for the job. You'll need:

Recycled Newspaper or kraft paper

water

seeds

mixing bowl

blender or immersion blender

ice cube trays

tea towel

A tray or plate for the seed balls to rest on while they dry

Seeds can be expensive if you buy them in small packets. If you're planning on making more than one batch of these, we recommend buying them online from a store like American Meadows

Step Two:

Shred paper and let it soak in water for 5 minutes or more. This allows the fibers in the paper to absorb enough water to lengthen so it is easier to blend. Add the paper and water mixture to the blender and blend it into a pulp.

Step Three:

Add the seeds to the pulp mixture and stir. To make ours we use a blend of wildflower seeds, but you can use any type of seeds you like, like vegetable seeds or ivy. There's no exact measurement for the amount of seeds you need to use, but we use about 1/4 cup of seeds to 4 cups of the paper pulp mixture.

Step Four:

Strain the pulp through the tea towel. We put ours over a separate mixing bowl to reuse the water to create a second batch later in the day. Wring out the pulp mix in the tea towel to remove more water so the seeds don't germinate prematurely.

Step Five:

Place the paper and seed pulp into your molds. You can make your seed balls as small or as large as you like. Carefully remove from their molds and rest them on a tray or board to dry.

Step Five:

Let dry in a warm and sunny place. You want to make sure that your seed bombs dry quickly so that the seeds don't start to germinate while your seed bombs are still drying.

Step Six:

Spread! Throw your seed bombs in your garden, on your windowsill, or in an ugly lot that you think needs some color.

NEW LOOK AND NEW ITEMS FOR SPRING

We would like to share with you our new items for Spring and Summer 2013! We had a great holiday season, and in the small bits of free time that we had, we got to create some new products with new ways to carry plants to bring to you for this spring!

A lot of the feedback we heard from customers was that they wanted to see more lapel pins. We brought the form of one of our more popular necklaces to a lapel pin, and we're really thrilled with the way it turned out.

We've also been playing around with some more classical shapes than just the simple modern ones we usually create. The Amphora necklace is inspired by vases seen on a recent trip to the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

We're also bringing out new colors for this spring like purple and bolder blues than we've used in the past. We're adding to our line of bag planters, so now you have a way to carry some fresh picked flowers on your tote.

Also, if you've visited our site in the past few days, you've probably noticed some changes to the appearance. We've updated the look and feel of the site. We've made some cosmetic improvements and fixed a few kinks, and we've also made some usability changes that we hope will make your experience on the site better. We've added a new way for you to checkout directly on our site with our new credit card processor Braintree, so now you don't have to worry about trying to use PayPal.

THIS WEEK IN PHOTOS

The last week of February has been crazy! We're working on a new website, we got the first prototypes of our new rings in, we organized a 3D printing meetup, and we worked on putting together a few new things for this spring.

Since we didn't have a whole lot of time to write to tell you what we're up to, this is what this week looked like.

The weather in Atlanta has been really cold and dreary. When I was at the florist, they had Forsythia branches on sale. I've never bought flowers like this before, and I've been so hapy with the bright blooms they've had. I also feel like I'm getting away with something by smuggling a little reminder of spring indoors.

We received the first prototypes of our new rings from Shapeways that we're going to produce this spring. We have a few design changes to make, and expect to see these items in the shop soon.

We made a lot of seed bombs with recycled paper and wildflower seeds.

We organized a 3D printing meetup in Atlanta with Shapeways and they sent us a bunch of cool little things for the event.

 And at last, we saw the first signs of spring coming up to get us through the last part of winter. This Magnolia tree was on the Atlanta Beltline, and is a recent planting from Trees Atlanta. The flowers were such a vibrant shade at sunset that I just had to snap their picture!

WEARABLE PLANTER IN PRINT AND ON EXHIBIT

This year, 2013, marks the 60th anniversary of the Industrial Design Program at Georgia Tech. What started as a program within the architecture curriculum, is now the School of Industrial Design. To celebrate 60 years of Industrial Design Education, the school is currently exhibiting a show of alumni work. The works in the exhibit span the course of these six decades, and demonstrate how product design, people, and technology have evolved in that time.

As an alumna of the program, work from the Wearable Planter collection was chosen to be on display and included in the booklet for the exhibit.

The exhibit runs from now until February 8 at the College of Architecture East Building. For more information, visit http://www.id.gatech.edu/.

WE'RE 2!

It's kind of a big week here! We're getting ready to put out all of our new items for spring, working on some new bike planters that we can make in house on our 3D printer, and as of this week, we've been in business for two years!

It's been an exciting run. Last year we got to travel for business, were featured on Fab.com, and grew our business. Here's to another great year!

PECULIAR OBSERVATIONS

Sometimes I make peculiar observations. Yesterday I took a trip to the Atlanta Botanical Garden to get a chance to step out of the office, and snap some photos to use with our new packaging. The garden was practically empty, because it's the middle of the week on a rainy January afternoon. When I stepped into the Fuqua Orchid Center, my camera lens fogged up, and I didn't realize it until I reviewed this picture of an orchid. I suppose most people would consider the shot ruined, but I like the effect it created.

They were also beginning to set up for a new exhibit while I was there, and it looks as if some of the tropical plants threw a crazy party last night!